Puy lentil Moussaka

I know I go on about puy lentils but they are the best thing ever!

You will need: An aubergine, 50g of puy lentils, half a courgette, onion, pepper, tinned tomatoes, stock cube, milk (1/4 of a pint) flour (table spoon) and 40g of half fat cheese.

I am on a diet again and this is only 10 points for the whole thing (massive) and 5 for half (what I will have..)

I had my puy lentils cooked because I made a salad over the weekend, just cook them according to pack instructions.

Start by frying courgette, peppers and onion together. Add some garlic if you have any. When they are soft, add a tin of tomatoes and a stock cube. When it has reduced a little bit add the puy lentils.

Cut the aubergine and layer them in the bottom of your dish, pour the tomato mixture over, then do another layer of aubergine, and another layer of the tomato mixture.

Now comes the naughty bit..

Make a basic white sauce with low fat cooking spray, skimmed milk, and a tiny bit of the cheese (around 10g). Start by cooking the flour and slowly adding the milk.

Pour this over the top of your moussaka, and finally grate the rest of the cheese over the top.

Bake in the over at around 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Bad picture but you get the idea!

I served this with some capers and a green salad. Next time I will probably put some capers in the tomato sauce. 

Filo creme fraiche tarts! Woohoo!!

I had some filo and creme fraiche spare while cooking up some delights for my niece's second birthday, and I came up with these.

I made this in a yorkshire pudding tray.

You will need: Ready made filo pasty, a tub of creme fraiche, some apricot jam, frozen summer fruits, vanilla extract/seeds, caster sugar, and lemon rind.

Firstly you need to make the filo nests. In order to do this you need to brush butter over the yorkshire pudding tray. Cut the filo in to small squares, and layer the pastry on to the mould. Every layer of pastry needs to be brushed with butter. Layer them so they evenly cover the mould. I scrunched up the over hang to create a little nest shape.

Bake these in the oven for around five minutes at 180 degrees until they are crisp and golden.

For the filling, put some apricot jam and a little bit of water in a saucepan, and warm it until it is liquid. Pour a little bit of it in to every pastry nest.

Next mix half a small tub of creme fraiche with some lemon rind, a little bit of vanilla essence, and add icing sugar to taste. I didn't make mine very sweet.

Spoon the creme fraiche mixture on to the nests, and finally decorate with frozen summer fruits, or whatever fruit you have handy really.

The magic with the frozen fruit is as they defrost they release their juices which soaks in to the creme fraiche.

They take about half an hour, they are easy, and taste amazing.

I can't bake, but I made these!

Amazing cauliflower!

The cauliflower tapas was incredible! I didn't follow the recipe, as usual but it was lovely.
I boiled the cauliflower until it was tender. Then I friend it in some Tikka curry paste (Jamie Oliver says it's fine, so it's fine!)
Then I added some of the smoked paprika and chili tomato sauce for the wedges bravas, and fried briefly.
It was delicious!

I am home in North Wales and loving it! Hope everyone is enjoying the Sun x

Leftovers?

Easter holidays, that magical time of year when you can go home and shamelessly live as if you are 17 again, mums cooking, no cleaning,  drinking every night and none of the family gatherings like at Christmas (I love them, don't get me wrong, but I just wanna chill out now!)... or is that just me?
I'm leaving my flat in Cardiff for two weeks and have loads of odds and ends in the house that need to be used.

The perfect and tasty way to use them all is tapas!

Tonight we're having

Wedges bravas http://gwenllian-glyn036.blogspot.com/2011/02/wedges-bravas.html
Potato salad
Broad bean, leek and feta salad
Roasted pepper with olives
Smoked paprika cauliflower

Loads of random stuff = my favourite way to eat.
Not tried the cauliflower yet, will blog when I have.
If you have a weird ingredient that doesn't quite fit, google a tapas recipe for it!
Easy!

Broad bean salad - Fry the leeks until soft, add the broad beans and when they are cooked sprinkle over feta, mind and olive oil, season.
Roasted pepper - Simply roast in the oven until it is black, peel the skin, chop and serve with olives and olive oil, season with pepper and sea salt.

Potato salad- the Mr's favourite. Just boil potatoes and mix with mayonnaise, mint, chives, parsley, and some wholegrain mustard, season with salt and pepper.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter.

No foodie pictures today, here is a picture of me when I was 17! I can't wait to go home!!

Broad bean and feta risotto

Well my essays have been handed in, and now I am free! Well.. Until my exams.

To celebrate I am having one of my favourite meals, risotto!

I'm willing the sun to come back with this summery number.

You will need: Arborio rice, vegetable stock, leek, frozen peas, broad beans, vegetarian hard cheese and feta cheese.

Start by softening the leeks in a saucepan, when they are cooked (not brown), add the Arborio rice. Slowly add a bit of the vegetable stock in water, around half a mug at the time.

Proceed to add water slowly until the risotto begins to get a creamy consistency, taste the rice to check the texture, if it is mostly cooked but has a bit of a bite you can add the broad beans, peas and vegetarian hard cheese at this point.

 Once the broad beans and peas are cooked, and the cheese has melted it is ready to serve.

Sprinkle feta over the top to serve and a few green olives if you fancy.

You can make loads of different kinds of risotto easily and quickly.

Enjoy!

Stress

Sorry I haven't been writing! work work work
Acting like a crazy person. Hope it passes once I start revision and finish essays.

Boo.

Sun is shining.. weather is sweet..

Lentil Cottage pie (Vitamin dream for veggies!)

Just made this, have nothing in the house. It is lovely!

You will need: Potatoes, puy lentils, vegetable stock, marmite, ketchup, frozen spinach and peas, leek, onion, mustard, garlic, veggie Worcestershire sauce,cheese milk and butter.


Fry the onions, leek and garlic until soft. Put the potatoes on the boil. Add the puy lentils, some water, stock, a spoon full of marmite, and a splosh of Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (I found mine in the 'free from' section at tescos), and add a table spoon full of ketchup. Simmer for 15 minutes, then add the spinach and peas.

Mash the potatoes with butter, mustard and milk.

Layer the puy lentils in a baking dish, with the potatoes on top. Grate cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

You;re getting protein, B12, and iron here.

Tasty good.